With the flame’s embers shooting up into the branches of a nearby tree, this unattended bonfire was seen in the front yard of a Lake Cowichan home, the evening of Friday, April 8; a few yards from drivers making their way down Stone Avenue. The town’s bylaw number 878-2009 prohibits outdoor fires, except cooking fires with a base four square feet or smaller, and controlled fires started and maintained by the Fire Department. Fines for breaking this bylaw range from $100 to $2,000 per incident. A complete copy of the bylaw is available online, at www.town.lakecowichan.bc.ca. In the Cowichan Valley Regional District, the use of an air curtain burner is required for the disposal of land-clearing debris, as per a bylaw instated in August of 2009, with an easing into enforcement throughout last year. All land-clearing debris that is larger than two metres high by three metres wide, cannot be openly burned.